Netflix to don The Crown in 2016

Based on Peter Morgan's play The Audience, the "hugely ambitious" series will dramatize the personal and political travails of Queen Elizabeth II.

Netflix announced on Thursday it will premiere the first 10-episode season of the original series The Crown exclusively in all territories in 2016.

Inspired by the hit West End play The Audience by Oscar-nominee Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon), the series will tell the behind-the-scenes story of Queen Elizabeth II and her relationships with prime ministers that have shaped Britain during her reign. It will be directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and produced by Andy Harries (The Queen).

Beginning with Elizabeth as a 25-year-old princess assuming the British throne in 1952, each season of the series will explore a decade in her life, and the accompanying political rivalries and personal intrigues.

No cast or production start date have been announced, but Deadline has reported that British actress Claire Foy has been offered the role of Elizabeth.

“Queen Elizabeth II has reigned throughout a period of unprecedented cultural and political change, and her influence as monarch has been universal,” said Harries, chief executive of Left Bank Pictures, in a statement. “The series will be hugely ambitious and surprising, and perfectly captures the changes and complexities of a post-war world.”

The Crown is being produced by Left Bank Pictures in association with Sony Pictures Television. Morgan, Daldry and Harries will serve as executive producers, along with Robert Fox and Matthew Byam Shaw.

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